I have been looking into buying a line spooler becuase I am tired of having to go to the local fishing store and pay to have some one do it for me. So I got on line and looked for one and found that they are very expensive. I am now looking into building one from scratch. I was wondering if any of the anglers out there have made one themselves and have a tinplate or know where I can get one that is professional quality for under a $100? Any suggestions are welcome.

Jimglo-

I have used the Berkley manual spooling station for the last 5 years and love it. It comes with a line stripper and you can buy one for under $25 at most sporting goods stores. I know you mentioned a powered one but I thought I would let you hear my .02.

JSTEEL :

i too got the berkley spooler, it works great for me..cheap too, better than trying to hold the spool on a stick between my legs, "nekked", defiinetly know what a fish feels like going thru those mono nets **berkley boy**

I have the Berkley cheapy too. One point, make sure you unspool with a weight on once you're on the water and rewind with a good load on the reel. I lost a pig in Sekiu due to the line digging in on a reel I didn't load with enough tension.

Thanks for the input. I am bent on making one just to see if I can do it now. I got a sewing machine motor and a peddel. Now I am trying to figure out how I will mount the motor and use a belt configuation for the reel and the what not. It is going to be challenging to find all the parts but as I said before I am bent.

I made one out of a plank, a lower half of a pole I broke, a piece of threaded rod, a bunch of metal fender washers, a couple of nuts, and a couple of big thick rubber washers.

First I hacked off the old pole just above the first eye. Then I glued it on to the plank with some polyurethane adhesive I got for two bucks at home depot. (Hang the end over the edge of the plank so you can still attach a reel to it. If it has a long handle you can remove it too.) I bent the threaded rod into an "L" shape, drilled a hole in the plank, secured it with a couple of nuts and washers.
Then on the threaded rod I put on a nut, fender washer, rubber washer, fender washer, spool of line, fender washer, rubber washer, fender washer, nut in that order.
Tension on the spool is controlled by tightening one of the nuts on the threaded rod.
Put a reel on the pole, attach the line and reel away to fill it.
It's cheap, ain't glamorous, but it works.
Mike

Holy cow you guys are lazy.

My line spooler was free. Its called the yellow pages. Run your line through the big book, tie it around the spool, and start reelin. you dont need to worry much about tension, the book has ya covered.

Lazy lazy lazy....

My lazy a** also uses the Berkley! :p

Actually the best and least expensive way only involves a pencil and a dampened paper towel folded into a vee. The line should be set into the Vee and pressure applied while reeling.

Perfect tight loading! No heat!

FJ...out.